AP sues Pentagon for Guantanamo records

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Associated Press sued the Defense Department on Monday for the release of records identifying all past and current detainees at a U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"Given the significant public interest in understanding the actions taken by the U.S. government with respect to the individuals held at Guantanamo Bay," the information is urgently needed, said the AP, the nation's largest news-gathering organization.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where last month a judge ordered the Pentagon to release to the AP the identities of several hundred detainees who had participated in hearings.
The AP, which serves more than 15,000 news outlets, filed the new lawsuit after the Pentagon failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for documents that would help identify the more than 750 past and current detainees.
The request, submitted Jan. 18, was necessary to obtain information critical to the AP's ability to interpret transcripts of proceedings involving some detainees that were provided by the Defense Department, the lawsuit said.
The public has "an intense and legitimate interest" in learning the detainees' identities, but the Defense Department has been unable or unwilling to state when or if it will provide the requested identifying information, the AP said.